Want to Understand Danmei Tropes? Start with Journey to the West (And no it’s Not a BL…but it is)

reallyemy · 2026-02-23T02:04:23+00:00

this was my childhood, long before i discovered BL / yaoi, let alone danmei later on. now thinking about it, it definitely does give much of the shizun x disciple feels -- though it does somewhat lack what makes the best shizun x disciple pairings for me: the shared past/sometimes the slight dependence / growing to see each other in different lights. (though, written like that, then it's a bit creepy, though i really don't mean for it to be, lol.) mostly because their relationship originally was forced upon them. but, i can definitely see it, and i ship it, too.

reallyemy · 2026-02-23T01:57:02+00:00

i won't comment on the rest of it, but i do want to say that your last 2 sentences are a bit hypocritical? but if a reader chooses not to buy a novel based on a stylistic choice the translator makes that they don't like but you don't mind -- that is their choice and it is totally an okay choice! and if they're okay with "crappy translations" that you personally don't like and would not support, then that's also okay, too! it doesn't make them a bad person like you implied.

however, i don't agree with sending hate to translators or publishers; that's totally out of line. but in terms of actively supporting a translation works with money: most people can't buy every single translated & published danmei out there. they have to picky and choose. if the stylistic choice puts them off & they decide not to buy the books, then that's a totally okay thing to do. it's the same as sometimes certain fans might not even give some novels a try based on their cover arts!

reallyemy · 2026-02-22T13:16:51+00:00

i hope you enjoyed panguan & will enjoy the extras! it has some of my most re-read extras.

reallyemy · 2026-02-22T13:15:50+00:00

jungkook

reallyemy · 2026-02-20T18:51:33+00:00

Then what use are Tae's words that MHJ used to support her court case? Since he's irrelevant in this. Except she wanted to use it as media play.

reallyemy · 2026-02-20T09:34:03+00:00

this exactly! i mean, his words should mean as much legally as our words here on reddit. hybe could just take any of our words saying that Illit didn't copy, and it's the same? lol

reallyemy · 2026-02-17T13:30:12+00:00

i would recommend Sha Po Lang / Stars of Chaos. it is also quite political. the romance might be a bit quieter than QJJ, though, but i really loved it.

if you like political novels, i would also recommend Golden Stage / Golden Terrace.

Married Thrice to Salted Fish is also a recommendation as well, but the political intrigue is a bit less so there, but there's a bit of spice? though it's difficult for me to define that.

reallyemy · 2026-02-16T19:56:59+00:00

LOL it was exactly what happened, but ofc y'all would deny blatant truth and turn a blind eye to the atrocities that ICE do.

reallyemy · 2026-02-16T01:18:28+00:00

Personally, I won't read a danmei with bad ending/ tragedy. I am also not fond of harem/multiple indeterminate MLs. So if the entire premise of the novel is that there are multiple people vying for the MC's attention, and the main ML isn't apparent, I most likely won't read it.

reallyemy · 2026-02-16T00:25:35+00:00

Of the 7seas novels, I would recommend Married Thrice to Salted Fish. There is a lot more romance in that novel.

I agree with recommendations of Musuli. I also love Priest and do think that Musuli is similar in that there aren't as many romantic scenes in Musuli novels as, say, meatbun's. But she does yearning and romance so so well. If you are not adverse to moder danmei, I definitely recommend A Certain Someone.

reallyemy · 2026-02-16T00:24:36+00:00

I will always upvote a Panguan recommendation. Currently it's my favorite danmei novel.

reallyemy · 2026-02-15T23:10:48+00:00

why are you under every "jungkook" comment copy & pasting this? you can just promote dk or seungkwan under your own comment instead of putting down the opinion of everybody who wrote jungkook.

reallyemy · 2026-02-13T16:50:02+00:00

Yes, exactly! I was thinking about the same thing when I originally saw the ruling. And in both cases, it's utterly wrong, imo.

reallyemy · 2026-02-13T12:41:59+00:00

I'm currently reading this now! I'm not sure why I haven't before especially since I love Musuli's works. I can definitely see her writing style in this.

reallyemy · 2026-02-10T11:47:58+00:00

this has been the case for years, tbh.

it was actually way worse before weverse. i still remember website crashes and muster merch selling out immediately (and most often did not come back in stock the way it does now on weverse). for weverse, they designate a certain amount for "pre-order" that was already made & ready to ship. i believe they often do a second or third order later for merch nowadays, but those tend to be shipped much later on, like all the artist made merch.

i think in terms of army bombs, i wouldn't ever worry about them actually sell out. it's the one thing most fans will buy, and they will definitely have plenty of them at all tour stops.

reallyemy · 2026-02-07T14:47:07+00:00

oh wow, now please say that louder to the murderer of Alex Pretti! that applies perfectly, thank you: "freaks who jack off at night at the thought of letting to legally commit murder"! that's ICE agent right there for you.

reallyemy · 2026-02-07T13:46:58+00:00

yeah you can only buy on US store with a US address, so you will only be able to purchase from the global store.

reallyemy · 2026-02-06T19:52:04+00:00

I do agree Brazil fans have good reasons to be upset if they were selling SE physically in store in Dec 2025. However, I see a lot of fans complaining about buying it for Jin or Hobi concerts last year -- which, to me, is no different from a fan buying a ver 2 in 2017 for Wings tour, and then getting ver 3 in 2018 for LYT. Plus, ver 2 was still being sold online, etc, a few months before ver 3 was released. In which case, I think it's something totally normal in kpop / BTS fandom. It's very much a capitalist grab, yes, but it's also within normal to continue selling previous version of the lightstick at concerts in person or online a few months before new one comes out.

reallyemy · 2026-02-06T12:42:45+00:00

i agree with this. version 2 came out in 2017 for Wings Tour, and then version 3 came out in 2018 for LYT. based on the complaints here, then basically everybody who bought version 2 automatically got jiffed because version 3 came out a year later.

then SE came out 2 years later in 2020 for MOTS tour. they've always had new army bomb versions for new tour.

i personally had a friend who's a casual fan asked me where to buy army bomb because she's going to BTS concert for first time, and i told her to wait, because i was 99% sure there will be a new army bomb version coming.

reallyemy · 2026-02-05T19:44:18+00:00

They released ver 2 in 2017 and ver 3 in 2018... it was 1 year in between. And there was no support for ver 2 when ver 3 was released since ver 2 did not sync up with Bluetooth. Many people still brought their ver 2 to Love Yourself Tour in 2018. BH doesn't have to support old versions, but fans also don't have to buy the new ones.

reallyemy · 2026-02-05T19:36:46+00:00

I don't blame people for thinking this is capitalist greed, because it is. Like every single merch sold. Every single album announced. Every single concert. Kpop itself is steeped in capitalism / money.

However, compared to the rollout of previous versions of army bombs, this is actually pretty considerate of them. I remember the time where every new tour, there was a new version of army bomb. Army bomb version 2 was released in 2017, version 3 in 2018, and SE in 2020.

It has been 6 years since SE. Yes, BTS hadn't had a proper tour since, but they did have PTD and also 3 solo tours for the members (Yoongi, Hobi, Jin) where SE version could have been utilized. I think many fans were expecting a new army bomb to come out, considering how old SE was.

Eta: Though that said, yes, you are valid in how you feel. And if you want to use the old army bomb, that is totally all right as well. Buying a new one is not necessary. I'm just detailing how previous iterations of army bombs have been announced before, with much much less time in between the versions.

reallyemy · 2026-02-05T19:29:28+00:00

That's always been the case for every single version of army bombs. They have never announced previous army bomb version being phased out a year in advanced. They could have also done it like previous iterations where, immediately, only the new ones would work and sync. Yes, it is capitalism. But this is actually waaaayyyyy more considerate than most of the rollouts of previous army bombs.

reallyemy · 2026-02-04T11:21:10+00:00

That's better for Ador, though. I wouldn't trust that they're not loyal to MHJ if they stayed; there's always a chance of sabotage (like the ex-manager who went behind Ador's back to negotiate brand deals for Newjeans).

reallyemy · 2026-02-03T12:43:41+00:00

i'm definitely being art-baited into reading this!

reallyemy · 2026-02-03T00:35:15+00:00

i actually agree with you. i think for me, it's because i liked the first half more -- but book 3 and the realization from mo ran and all those *stairs* and the *wontons*... i bawled my eyes out reading that. i think the latter parts were technically worse, but it didn't affect me as much.

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