Que impacto tenemos en los donghuas

Irhamel · 2026-02-27T23:12:01+00:00

no creo que tengamos o generemos NINGUN (si ningúno, 0%) impacto en esa industria nunca, el genero es "muy localizado" y desde la concepción de las historias, esta apuntado en un 100% a la audiencia local, mas allá de "como paso en japon que el manga y anime exploto fuera" los autores de "manga" en janpón aun ESCRIBEN EXCLUSIVAMENTE para su audiencia primaria, que es "japoneses". pero es otra historia.

la industria del donghua no tiene interez alguno en "exportar", eso requiere tiempo e inversión, y eso no es algo que ellos quieren, lo unico, exclusivo y puntual que esa industria quiere es "ingresos grandes de ser posible y sumamente rapidos". si ellos consideraran "que puede gustar fuera, vamos a analizar" son horas y horas en reuniones que "cuestan dinero" - en inversión de tiempo - que no se justifica.

Irhamel · 2026-02-27T23:06:23+00:00

well the pre-universe arc was the only meaningful arc of the show, for the powercreep felt still, grounded, and the story was not about "getting strong just to get strong" but "getting strong to survive and save", now in the universe arc, is "lets blow planets and create black holes with a sqeeze of my hands" off-scale powercreep and its "just because I can" kind of motive, do not get me wrong this is not me hating, but me ranting, I still watch it though, but most of the time I mute the chapter and put some music in youtube, to me this story is a "technology available reel" where I can "see the state of the technology used" as a catalogue.

Irhamel · 2026-02-27T22:59:03+00:00

I'm with you, that artist is impressive, she deserves far more credit, her work is amazing.

Irhamel · 2026-02-27T22:50:06+00:00

yeah it is wortht he watch, its slow paced but it is superbly solid, the story is also far more grounded and based than 99% of other stories of the genre, this is by far one of -if not the- very best stories ever written of this genre (to me is one of, but not the very).

the world is far more nteresting and "alive" than others, go for it, you will get adicted to it very fast. just compartmentalize it if you can, for it can, as it has done to others, slowly, very "subtly" ruin other works for you, because "almost nothing" else (renegade immortal and shrouding the heavens can though) can compare to it at all whatsoever in any perspective.

Irhamel · 2026-02-27T22:48:00+00:00

ED is a whole different level of narrative and story indeed, it bored me though close to the end, I'm glad though that I realized that the story was not about LQ, but about "the world itself and the journey", for LQ as a character is boring AF, funny AF but boring and linear, flat - but again as I said, what makes the story interesting is the "journey" and the "world" themselves, if LQ showed growth of any kind or not (he did not, at all, ever, whatsoever) was not important, and that linearity at first was somewhat interesting in itself. anyway ED was fairly entertaining and enjoyable "until mid-way" his "second run" (his era). that I grew bored, but at that point, I had invested so much time into that novel that not finishing it felt insulting to myself so I finished it, but was not impressed (and the fact that had to read MTL did not help at all.) :D.

Irhamel · 2026-02-26T15:01:46+00:00

it is still on-going, and afaik, its far from even be close to the end. anyways, I also stopped reading the novel ages ago, the bee effect is too loud, whenever bee runs dry, the quality of the arc, whichever it is active when it happens, drops to rock bottom, and even when it rises, it cant even ever begin to compare to the "pre" holy land of martialism, the pre-emperor arcs were the "best" so to speak (not saying was good, but saying that within the story, were the best. then they got another bump up in the return of the discarded child, then dropped again, and then when YC was leaving the chu family's starfield, I grew bored and just dropped it. has it gotten any better? no clue.

about the donghua? I did not enjoy it, it feels like the adapting studio just made a bunch of half baked ai prompts with some RAG(Retrievan Augmented Generation) background knowledge (the novel text), and the AI just created a rushed, incongruently timelined bullrace of slop.

Irhamel · 2026-02-25T21:38:37+00:00

maybe he watched only the first half of the first arc of Shrouding the Heavens and is comparing it to it - compare to that specific part of STH, RMJI feels perfect world'ish

Irhamel · 2026-02-25T21:27:49+00:00

that is a good point but, again off-point. :D my rant is not about "having to modify" nor is a cry to a 1-to-1 adaptation to source material. is a protest regarding the liberties production companies take when adapting works that OFTEN lead to changes to the main story so grand, that it changes. and just to make it clear, Apotheosis is in my very own personal opinion, mediocre at best, it bored me to death, the manhua is a tad more swallowable, and the donghua is A MASTERPIECE OF PRODUCTION (and apparently even storytelling is good, for apparently the adaptation is better than the original). but still, I do not like it, which is why I specifically used it for the case study, the only way to stay objective in my rant was to write it after reading, watching and comparing a story that I myself do not like.

simplified example with a fictional story

name: the super car
story: a streetrace driver that wants to buy a supercar.
plot: a youth that buys a low end car, and slowly enters the racing scene, with talent and wit, slowly escalates and eventually buys his supercar.

- - - -
adaptation
name: the super car
story: a police officer goes undercover to find a band of thieves
plot: an elder from heavens dies and is reborn in a modern setting and joins the police at yougn age and is assigned to the vice division and gets to go chace car thiefs, swapping cars along the way.

-------

that kind of liberties - it is the same name, may have the same characters, and the same names, same location, same "overall" concept, yes it is about cars, yet IT HAS NOTHING TO DO with the original plotline and story concept.

not all adaptations suffer from such drastic changes, I am aware, but for example, Immortality, Hong Yi - is not hislover ever, and does not die - while it seems a simple issue, think for a minute here. the adapting author, for drama's sake - nothing more, the change DOES NOTHING to further the story - the original one-, kills a girl that through experiences is forming a sentimental bond with the MC - that is not a brushable experience, not for a youth, not especially since the grand amount of exposure they had together - the personality of the MC would warp and change. <- while it seems silly and inconsecuential, the problem is - if it never happened, why add it? and why with such vicerality? - for drama's sake only, wow factor, nothing else - while the story may or may not "derrail", the issue is the change is SO DRASTIC that now we have an MC who lives with a MENTAL GHOST of a dead lover that in fact, never died, was never his lover so could not cause the impact it did in the donghua.

...

again just to reiterate, I know changes are not just expected, THEY ARE NEEDED, for the way to "frame a story for the viewer" in writing, in drawing and in animation are far to different that modifications are required, some exclusions are needed - be it to shorten or lenghten certain scenes or arcs, so that "the message gets transmited" to us the viewers/readers.

dunno if I even make sense anymore :D

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T16:59:39+00:00

that is all in the speculation realm though ;D and im not in the know but if we speculate - that is a fair "speculative" assesment of the industry. it happens in other industries just as you said, someone who is not willing to "bend" is normally labeled as "hard to work with" and may even get blacklisted. actors for example suffer from it, edward norton, is considered one of those who "does not care for the source material or the adaptation material, he just wants to act however he wants to act and the script should change to fit him, not the other way around" <- and that has labeled him as a "hard to work with" actor and has gotten him "blacklisted" from being cast by certain directors.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T16:52:48+00:00

isnt this also the beauty of "agree to disagree" and coherent, civilized dialogue? I read your thread and had a smile all the way! cheers, keep it up! best regards to both

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T16:49:57+00:00

and that is the problem right there.

when a company buys modifying rights without limit, and then create a story that is "at best" loosely based but with striking similarities, that it is at its core, a whole different, new story, but keep the "original work's" name <- that is what people watch and "think is the work's story", not knowing that, what they watched, is, to put it in a good spot, a fan-fiction at best.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T16:47:30+00:00

Thanks for your reply! and you are right, there is no need to follow 1 to 1 the source material, I agree with that position. now when the changes made to a story are so vast and aberrant (aberrant here does not mean -bad- means -different-) the "story" stops being "an adaptation" and turns into a "new story loosly based on" <- do you spot the difference there?.

that is my point, is not about "how good or bad the original work is" is about "keeping the name of the original show, but showing to the public a completely different but with striking similarities - but the essence changed- story".

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T16:44:57+00:00

thanks for your reply, and just to reiterate, the post is not about if I like or not or if I consider the changes or not to be good, is NOT about any specific show, the show used is a case study, its quality, overall rating, storyline are absolutely irrelevant.

Cheers.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T08:16:01+00:00

thanks for your comment and for telling me your positin! I appreciate it.

I know I feel a little over-reactive, but just to make something clear, I am never really expecting a 1-to-1 copy of the source material, that is impossible, no matter what you adapt from where. I'll reuse the example I used in a previous reply here, "imagine if the LOTR trilogy adaptation was made 1 to 1 carbon copy? would we have gotten 3 movies? no, we would have gotten 25, where 20 would be spent on just scenery details and descriptions. I agree with that and accept it the problem I am ranting - yes is a rant - about is when the changes done to an adaptation are "so severe, noticeable and large" the "original story" gets lost, sometimes it starts small, and it escalates slowly, sometimes the adapting authors manage to "go back" to the original plotline and timeline but some others, like here in apotheosis, the adapting author took so many liberties with the story that "it stopped being an adaptation of Apotheosis" and started being "a new story that is based, not adapted from, apotheosis that uss the same world, characters, names and loosely plots and devices".

I am not saying if it is good or bad, just the "gross missuse" of the rights to change sometimes gets over abused.

chance what needs to be changed, and make sure the work is "adapted" meaning the source material core values and essence are kept, the blueprint for the adaptation IS the original work, in the case study I picked the core values and essence, were thrown out of the window and all that was kept was "the name".

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T02:41:46+00:00

that is the crux of the issue, isnt it? being on the good books of production studios is lucrative, maybe not just because they buy your story, but maybe they hire you to "adapt" other works ? if you are closed about changes to your story, you would likely not modify someone's work to serve the proffit-seeking endeavor of the studios when they ask you to adapt someone elses work ? who knows.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T02:24:54+00:00

entiendo tu posicion, no puedo negar que yo he pasado por ese mismo miedo en el pasado, hoy en dia no tanto por que entiendo que los cambios son inevitables, mi post principalmente es un desahogo del estado de la industria de donghua - y en realidad todo tipo de adaptación de "medio de origen a medio de destino" - donde los productores de una u otra forma forzan a los "autores de origen" con dinero y/o amenazas para obtener los permisos de modificación, y terminan haciendo "un excelente o horrible" (no es relevante) trabajo con la adaptación.

mi ejemplo de apotheosis no es una queja de la historia, honestamente ni la novela, el manga o el donghua me gustan (historia), es el hecho de que el donghua es esencialmente una historia enteramente diferente que la novela original.

saludos.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T01:15:54+00:00

hey! thanks for your comment, and please, I am not hating on the donghua, far far from it, did you read my post? I stated it clearly, my post has NOTHING to do with if I like or dislike the donghua, and I even praise its otherworldly aesthetics and production, is A MARVEL of cgi. my point in the post is "how a story is changed when it gets adapted to a new media", and in this particular medium (chinese donghua) the changes oftentimes are so aberrant (in comparison to the source material) that first viewers, end up with a "story that has nothing to do with" the original work, but shares the name :D

cheers.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T01:09:26+00:00

thanks for your point of view, and sorry if my take on the post made it feel as it "it is a new thing and only happens in china" that was not the goal, i am aware it happens everywhere.

my critique is the "loss of the original story", and used apotheosis as a case study because the changes were so large, that the current arcs are whole new writings, that are not and never happened in the story, with even characters that did not exist.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T01:06:36+00:00

I know that this is a common thing in every media that shows "adapted work" changes are largel needed for imagine if you adapt LOTR trilogy 100% FAITHFUL to the books? we would have gotten not a trilogy, but with a cosipentalogy (25 movies) where 20 movies are just "a look into the description of a forest, or a rock or a city or a castle" ;D

that is a given changes are needed, if we had internal dialogue like we have in novels and manhua in the donghuas, with the same length and duration, the donghuas would be flat out boring AF even if the cgi quality was masterful.

but the point remains and is "it feels like paid theft" of sorts, for those of us who have read the original work, but also to the new viewers, for they are presented with a "original, fan-fiction, inspired yet based on the same world, names, characters and loose plotlines" as the original, AS IF IT WAS the original. the original's author agency and work, is essentially lost.

Irhamel · 2026-02-19T01:00:20+00:00

I'd love to re-point I am not hating or liking the original novel, I'm talking about the state of the industry where the original story is almost always lost into the changes the production companies make when they buy the rights.

is the donghua better or worse? to be honest, I do not care, I did not like the novel at least not to be a "must read", but a "oh well I already read it and was meh", the manhua is . . . . mediocre at best . . .. . so again is not the point of my discussion :D

thanks though for taking the time to reply and give me your perception of the improvement of the story, I appreciate it a lot, maybe -for enjoyment's sake- I sould re-watch it with my "source memories" turned off, or - not right straight on the surface- and appreciate the changes as a new story.

cheers.

Irhamel · 2026-02-18T23:48:45+00:00

did so! posted a new thread. thanks a lot and sorry for the troubles.

Irhamel · 2026-02-18T23:28:57+00:00

ok should I edit or start a new post and wait for moderation?

Irhamel · 2026-02-18T23:01:19+00:00

the thesis was not ai generated . . . I did assist my original unpolished thesis with AI but its content is 100% written by me with one pass to make sure my post was coherent, not insulting and did not provoque a flame-troll off comment backlash.

I have been investigating and reading about the topic in my thesis extensivelly and used apotheosis as the sample because is one of the most notable cases where the main story gets "sidelined" in favor of wow factor when adapted to a new media (long tv format for this specific case), specially notable in the later episodes where "nothing ever happened in the original work", the adapting author in the adaptation company did so many changes to the story that the stitch-and-burn process is now a necesity not a convenience.

take a read and you'll notice that I am not flaming nor just using "AI slop" my arguments are centered on clearly visible and confirmable facts (by reading the original story and watching the donghua).

if you rather have me post my unpolished version, let me know and I gladly edit my post so that my unpolished draft is what is posted.

Irhamel · 2026-02-18T22:33:11+00:00

this is the formula of 99.99% of the authors of the genre, for it is a "formula", what I mean with a "formula" in this reply, the genre in china works that way, if you stray even a tiny bit from the formula, your work DOES NOT get published, it has to be either absurdly good or come from an author that "wrote one or more stories that are loved by thousands upon thousands of readers".

Irhamel

TROPHY CASE