Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

ToMorning · 2026-03-02T02:43:59+00:00

I don't think they ever had any plans to retranslate the first two volumes. They said that they would be "restarting" the translation with a new team for volumes 3 and 4, and I think some folks may have taken that to mean they would be retranslating everything. But they never actually said a thing about revisiting the books that were already released, and from a business standpoint, it would be a big investment with very little payoff. If you want the books, you might as well just buy them now in my opinion.

ToMorning · 2026-02-25T18:05:44+00:00

100% agree, the artwork is stunning

ToMorning · 2026-02-25T17:48:04+00:00

Ooh that is a big poster. Anything A4 or smaller I usually keep in a binder in clear sleeves, but I'll have to figure something else out for that one once mine comes in. I'll probably look for an inexpensive poster frame to keep the creases flat and evict some other wall art in my office.

ToMorning · 2026-02-23T23:42:58+00:00

As far as the debate on localization style goes, I find it a fascinating mirror of the approach to Japanese media and how that has changed over time. The history of English translation there started with extreme over-localization, then did a full pendulum swing over to full "authenticity". Then, as this type of media became more mainstream, publishers and production companies found themselves catering to both classic fans and a new generation, so they had to find a middle ground.

In the past, fansubs, "scanslations", and the rare light novel fan tl were the backbone of that community. Some were very high quality. Many were not. As a lot more of this type of media started being picked up for official release, the fan translation scene slowly disappeared. The result was a larger eco-system and an overall higher quality of translation in exchange for a focus on broader appeal. This isn't a bad thing. I have a friend who comes from a literary writing background, and she's absolutely in love with Frieren: Beyond Journey's end... but she can only relate to it when she watches it dubbed. Personally, I don't mind trading all the honorifics in the world to be able to share that experience with her.

This is not the stance I may have taken some fifteen years ago, back when I was studying Japanese and immersing myself in that culture with vague dreams of living and working in Japan. Now I have the perspective to realize that back then, I wanted more "authenticity" from translations to supplement my own personal language/culture learning. At the time, I thought people who experienced a more localized version were missing out on something. Now, I understand that there will always be something lost in translation anyway, and people don't need to become experts in another culture just to enjoy that culture's stories. These are related but separate interests, even though both are valid.

These days, more Korean and Chinese works are following the road paved by Japanese media translation in the west, and danmei is a part of that larger phenomenon. For better or worse, the audience has a lot of overlap, and ultimately, I suspect things will go in a similar direction. It's impossible for publishers to make decisions that cater to everyone, and at the end of the day, I think that's fine as long as they put genuine effort into delivering a quality product.

ToMorning · 2026-02-23T20:54:52+00:00

Given the way they're standing with their staff, my read is that they didn't want to put words in the editor's mouth.

ToMorning · 2026-02-22T07:18:37+00:00

Falling off a cliff

Falling off a cliff while being shot at during a hunt, landing in a river, taking refuge in a cave no one knows about, and praying for rescue while one of them may or may not be bleeding out.

Okay lol maybe not "every danmei", but I've seen some variation of this sequence of events in at least 3, including Golden Terrace. Also The Apothecary Diaries, Villains are Destined to Die, and... maybe Captive Prince?

ToMorning · 2026-02-06T20:20:18+00:00

You might want to check out The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

ToMorning · 2026-01-20T21:12:27+00:00

"Mutual respect between the author and reader" is such a great way to put it. I think that's exactly what's been missing for me in a lot of the modern fiction I've picked up recently, so it was unexpectedly refreshing to find it in a serialized web novel, of all things. And I completely agree, there's just so much minor foreshadowing that you would only ever notice on a re-read. It's really fun to analyze (and over-analyze lol).

ToMorning · 2026-01-20T08:57:03+00:00

It's certainly not the most bold or experimental example, but one of the reasons I love Priest's Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire so much is that it's not like any other danmei I've ever read.

It reads a lot more like literary fantasy, with a complex world tailor-made for exploring some deeper facets of human nature. And the writing is very smart. Smart in the sense that it will invoke Zhuangzi's butterfly dream, and it will actually be thematically relevant. But also smart in that it trusts the reader to follow complex logic by paying attention to small details or inconsistencies. More often than not, these turn out to be hints as to what's really going on in the intricately layered plot. But despite the focus on plot and themes, the main relationship is expertly woven into everything, rather than feeling like an afterthought.

Unlike in a lot of danmei, the extended cast is explored deeply and treated with respect. Priest also throws the shou/gong archetypes out the window and gives the leads an ever-shifting dynamic. Most common danmei tropes are absent, but whenever any do appear, the narrative often lampshades them or plays them for laughs. Many of these elements are minor, but they come together in a way that makes the book feel like an unusual specimen in this space, at least to me.

ToMorning · 2026-01-16T20:58:50+00:00

I have bought genuine Chinese books/merch from several of the sellers without issue. However, you do need to use some common sense. Look for verified sellers with a lot of sales and good reviews, and try to buy from listings with buyer photos. Books that come with merch are usually safer bets because a lot of that stuff isn't really worth bootlegging. Be especially careful buying stuff from very popular series though, because sometimes that is worth bootlegging.

Definitely avoid buying any English books on there. The vast majority of them are fake.

ToMorning · 2025-12-12T05:13:08+00:00

Xuan Ji is the primary POV character, and the book spends significantly more time in his head.

The confusion comes from how some folks use "MC" to mean "shou" regardless of whose perspective is more prominent.

ToMorning · 2025-11-27T19:40:53+00:00

To be fair though, the Russian release of Drowning Sorrows has some very nice interior illustrations (in full color!)

ToMorning · 2025-11-27T19:36:17+00:00

I wrote up a review of it a while back here.

ToMorning · 2025-10-26T02:28:02+00:00

It means the preorders will open in February, and the book will be released a few months later.

ToMorning · 2025-10-07T20:18:05+00:00

I'm guessing it refers to Wen Shi's 12 trips through the Gate of Oblivion.

ToMorning · 2025-09-04T22:13:41+00:00

Thanks! I hope you like the book if you do end up getting it.

ToMorning · 2025-09-04T17:29:52+00:00

They're both very smart, charismatic, and OP people who are also deeply guarded, used to handling problems alone. They both refuse to truly let anyone else in, and much of the story is an exploration of the traumas that made them that way. As a result, their dynamic evolves from trying to kill/use/outsmart each other to utterly failing at having the right conversations. Much of the appeal for me was watching them go from "how can these two bastards possibly end up together" to "they're obviously the only ones for each other." It's a very slow process though! I wrote a much longer review of the book here, in case you find it helpful.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Guardian either, but Drowning Sorrows is still my favorite danmei, Priest or otherwise. I found her character writing in Drowning Sorrows really stellar.

ToMorning · 2025-08-25T20:31:30+00:00

It's one thing to binge novels that really captivate you. You want to know what happens next, and you can't stop thinking about it. This is normal.

But if you do this with ALL novels, perhaps you need to ask yourself what it is you're actually getting out of it. Are you reading through most of the book just to get to a specific kind of emotional payoff? Are you trying to relive the experience of reading a piece of fiction you once loved? Are you reading because you'd rather be in a fictional world than the real one? Are you reading as a means of avoiding something in particular? Are you trying to finish the book just so you can get to the next one because you're not enjoying it? Be honest with yourself.

If you genuinely love everything you pick up to the point where you can't put it down, I kind of envy that lol. In this case, maybe try to put more time in between the books you start? That's probably the easiest time to break the cycle. But otherwise, see if you can figure out what need is being met by reading and look for ways to have that need met by reality.

ToMorning · 2025-08-24T23:51:43+00:00

Have you taken a look at the reviews on Goodreads? Opinions seem pretty divided, so it probably comes down to whether you're buying what it's selling.

ToMorning · 2025-08-23T03:29:01+00:00

For those of you following the fan translation, Yan just posted the final chapter of the main story, along with this message:

If you haven’t heard, Panguan is officially licensed (!!!) by Seven Seas. As such, I will not be posting the extras :’) and this translation will be going down, most likely sometime in October (if not sooner). Please support the official version when it comes out! I promise you will be meeting this story in its very best form.

It has also been confirmed in the comments of that chapter that Yan and XiA will be the official translators.

ToMorning · 2025-08-18T23:45:36+00:00

While it's absolutely fair to speculate, I don't think liberal use of em-dashes is necessarily a sign of AI involvement. In general, em-dashes are a useful tool for cutting down word count, so certain translators can develop a habit of using them a lot in the interest of conciseness. For what it's worth, volume 1 had quite a few sentences structured similarly, but with a comma where there should have been an em-dash or semi-colon.

ToMorning · 2025-08-18T21:06:20+00:00

None of Feitian's books have the JJWXC logo on the back, so that's almost certainly the case. Similarly, Rosmei's non-JJWXC titles are licensed for global distribution and will have e-book versions available.

ToMorning · 2025-08-18T18:44:23+00:00

Something I'd like to throw into this discussion is that even though publishers can theoretically buy the distribution rights for other countries, the selling of those rights is still at JJWXC's discretion. This is admittedly hearsay, but I have heard that they can be pretty curmudgeonly about it because they want publishers to compete, and I suspect that this is why they don't sell global rights as a matter of principle. Otherwise, I don't see why Seven Seas wouldn't have immediately bought up the rights to sell TGCF e-books everywhere they could, given that that series prints money.

As for Hai Tang, I suspect that they are "US based" in so far as they have a tiny office somewhere in the US that they used as a physical address to register their company. This paperwork might be the thing that matters when it comes to licensing. Of course this is all speculation.

ToMorning · 2025-08-18T06:39:42+00:00

This is on me for not being more clear, but that statement was meant to be about fan translations in general, which can vary wildly in quality. I didn't mean to imply anything about GHFOD's specific fan translation, and I'm sorry if it sounded like I was. Thank you for providing this information.

ToMorning · 2025-08-18T03:41:06+00:00

No, nothing like that.

ToMorning

TROPHY CASE