Tag: Chinese

Webnovel Review: Perfect Fiance (完美未婚夫)

Webnovel Review: Perfect Fiance (完美未婚夫)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Since this is the first Saturday of the year, I did not want to miss the review. I had stopped reading this short novel when the translator had to take a break halfway through. For the review purposes, I ended up binge reading it today itself.

Personally, I am a bit conflicted about this novel. Should it be a review or a recommendation, I still can’t decide. Let me try penning my thoughts here once and I might change my mind.

This is a very cheesy, very corny, full of fluff, short romance story about two people, Su Jin and Lu Xi. Su Jin transmigrates into a novel she was reading while on an airplane when the airplane gets into an accident. Originally an orphan, Su Jin finds herself in the body of a girl who was switched at birth and was supposed to be a rich young lady. Her original parents in the novel had just acknowledged her as their daughter and thus, for original Su Jin, her wealthy life had just started.

She also finds that she had been betrothed to a young mysterious young master of another influential family by her grandfather some time in the past and now she might have to honor that arrangement. The young master turns out to be Lu Xi, an award winning director of movies. Since Su Jin knew the plot of the novel, she knew that she would become a villain and the girl who was switched at birth had feelings for Lu Xi as well. She had, thus decided to remain far away from the guy.

By twist of fate, Lu Xi actually falls for Su Jin and rejects the other girl much to the surprise of Su Jin. From there on, starts Lu Xi’s chase of Su Jin, trying to break the hard shell she had over her heart.

It is initially revealed that Lu Xi might have connections with Su Jin from her original life which adds a really great mystery element to the plot.

Within 59 chapters, I would not really bother about character development as such. Su Jin starts as an aloof girl who doesn’t want to ruin the plot of the novel she was reading and hence, has the door to her heart closed off. But along the way, she starts depending on Lu Xi. Lu Xi, on the other hand, has been shown your typical handsome, breathtaking cold person who only dotes his lover. Other characters are all really likable and there are no villains in the plot. May be one person in the beginning but I don’t even understand what that one incident’s purpose was.

But this novel does pack a bunch of surprises plotwise. You might find some sci-fi stuff later on. Moreover, it is very good at tying all the loose ends at the end.

The thing I like the most about the novel is how it explores different kinds of love; love at first sight, gradually developed love over lifetimes, childhood love and love that is just not there anymore. I would say, the author has used some profound language to describe some of the most mundane things in life. Plus, translator has done really well in conveying those words.

My only complaint was that I had really gone out of touch with it once it stopped updating. As I read some 30 chapters today, there was not as much thrill as there was when I had just started following it. Not that I’m blaming the translator, life happens to everyone and I understand that. Anyway, I am slowly beginning to get bored of webnovels since they all just keep repeating similar plot lines. This one is definitely a bit different and half a day read, so that’s good.

In the end, I still can’t decide if I like it or not. It has its plus and minuses. I will keep it as a review only.

Conclusion: I’ll probably give it a 8/10 and recommend it to those who don’t really get cringed with cheesy dialogues. I liked the mystery part and how it was unraveled, although it was a bit predictable as well but the sci-fi part was something I could not even imagine in my dreams would be woven into it.

Final feelings: ⊙.☉

Read Here: Perfect Fiance on Meraki Translations

Personal Section: Happy New Year Readers. I am still stuck with weekend work in the new year but hopefully that will be over soon. I will definitely lose my overtime but who cares. I will have normal weekends and I would be able to work on my personal projects.

It had been long since I had some time to myself, without the need of going anywhere. And suddenly finding free time today was both surprising and hilarious in the sense, I had not planned on what to do with it. Nonetheless, I will go to bed early.

Did I tell you guys I became an ordained minister two weeks back and now can sign marriage licenses of couples? If you are in NJ (USA) and are looking for a person to officiate your marriage, contact me, lol. I did it on the request of a very dear friend of mine. I was really honored and elated when he asked me to officiate his marriage. This is for you my dear friend, very many congratulations!

Today’s song: Well, since I posted SKZ song last week, I ended up revisiting the whole playlist again and now they are the only artists in my playlist once again. I guess I’ll post another song from them, hopefully I haven’t posted this one before:

Love the lightness of this song ❤

Webnovel Review: Trial Marriage Husband: Need to Work Hard (试婚老公，要给力)

Webnovel Review: Trial Marriage Husband: Need to Work Hard (试婚老公，要给力)

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

Since I did not have any finished webtoons to review today and I did miss my first week’s post, I am going to change the things a bit and review a webnovel today.

Again, I did not want to review popular stuff. But given that I am being very picky about webnovels these days, I gotta start with the completed ones which I actually followed and finished reading myself. For now, this is the only completed one in my list. So, I’ll go with this.

It’s a story about a couple, Tang Ning and Mo Ting who marry each other because Tang Ning’s fiance cheated on her and Mo Ting’s fiancee never showed up for marriage. Tang Ning proposes Mo Ting to marry her, given their similar circumstances and Mo Ting agrees. Then it’s all about exacting revenges on her family, her fiance, making and eliminating more enemies and striking forever friendships along the way.

From the plot and the title, you would understand that this is a review and not really a recommendation. Having spent countless days, waiting for the chapters to be updated everyday, I can safely say that it was not worth it. Why I even finished it, is beyond me. Although I understand, it’s from the title of the novel itself, but damn that’s suspicious circumstances of marriage.

Would you, in real life, in your right mind, go to the nearest man you find near a marriage bureau coz you overheard them saying that their fiancee never showed up and be like, marry me? Okay, you were heartbroken at that point, you might have taken that step. But would you, in your right mind, just accept the marriage proposal from a random stranger, without any background information just like that? If you said yes to any of the questions, I am judging you very hard right now. 👀

Everything screams generic about this novel. Tang Ning was a model, got cheated by her lover, lost her international career for him, married Mo Ting who happened to be the king of entertainment industry and he launches her to become an actress. She takes on the role of producer and director later and that’s how her character grows. She also has the generic motto of I don’t make the first move. You attack me, I destroy you.

Mo Ting is your usual wife doting husband who grows from CEO of the best entertainment company in China to an actor and a scriptwriter because of his wife. Their friends and family have their own struggles and growth moments. Oh btw, Tang Ning also has a generic family with a step sister who wants to control the Tang business and is defeated by our female lead badly enough to not be able to make a comeback.

Am I happy having have read the whole thing? Nopes. By the end I was feeling like it was same thing being repeated again and again and again. A new enemy would appear, try to harm her or her family or her friends. And then she would make sure they don’t appear in her life again.

Perhaps the only good thing about the whole novel is the portrayal of netizens and how fickle minded they are. How they change their opinions about their idol in a moment and the hardships the people in entertainment industry have to go through, especially because of their so-called fans.

This is also one of the reasons I chose to review this novel. The recent incident with Sulli, Goo Hara and Cha In Ha was just sad. Like however one looks that they don’t really care, somewhere if people keep bashing you for being yourself, then you can’t help but go into deep depression. Poor people, how much they would have been suffering to finally take that step.

Apologies to have deviated from the review. Anyway, it is rather medium length per Chinese webnovels standards with 1274 chapters in total. The original story ends at chapter 1190 and then the story of Mo Ting’s and Tang Ning’s three children continues, which is more refreshing than the main plot tbh. Translation is of great quality and while the releases were happening, the translator was the most punctual of all the translations I have seen so far. I can name only one other translator this punctual.

Conclusion: All in all, I’ll give it 6/10 out of which 4/5 are for translation quality and rest for raising the issue of netizens in the novel and perhaps how it seemed interesting in the beginning.

Final Feelings: ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌

Read Here: Trial Marriage Husband on webnovel
PS: If you want some Spirit Stones (now coins) to begin your Qidian journey, you can sign up with this link: Qidian Referral Link
Or if you’re looking for a code, here is mine: B6UfgVFS

Personal Section: My apartment building had a broken boiler last week and it was just so hard to be using washroom early in the morning in -7 deg C cold. Damn these guys.

Anyway, another anime season is coming to an end. Most of the anime are ending next week and I am pretty sad. But I am also excited about Haikyuu’s new season coming up in January. Ugh, I wish I had more holidays like all my friends but all I am getting is just the Christmas day and New Year’s day. Anyway, I did manage to complete a lot of big tasks this weekend and am really looking forward to the one day off. Wishing all my readers a very merry Christmas and a warm, safe and happy new year 2020.

In today’s world, it’s very important to have proof of everything, so stay vigilant as well people. And with this, I’ll close out and start preparing for the work I have tomorrow. (Yes, I do work on Sundays!)

Today’s song: I am back with Stray Kids. I don’t know what songs I have already posted though. Let’s see, hopefully this I did not

C-Drama Review: The Tomb of the Sea (沙海)

C-Drama Review: The Tomb of the Sea (沙海)

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments
Tomb of the sea 1

So, I just finished this disaster yet the answer to the whole Mystic Nine/ The Lost Tomb series, that I had to review it right now, no matter what. The two reviews of prior series are very popular on my website and I’m pretty sure my readers have been looking for a closure to the whole thing. I won’t delay anyone and just dive right into it.

For sure, this review is not for anyone who has not watched Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb. If you’re yet to watch those series, please refrain from reading this post. I am assuming here that people who want to start The Tomb of the Sea have already watched at least one of those two.

As you know from the previous series, the whole Daomu Biji series is about nine clans famously known as “The Mystic Nine”. Mystic Nine was an introduction to the nine clans and how the whole tomb raiding saga started. The Lost Tomb dealt with heir of one of the clans and how he came to know about the existence of this old thing. The Tomb of the Sea is about an outsider, who is a chosen entity to help the Nine Clans deal with a fake tenth clan that has been wrecking havoc in their lives.

Initial expedition where both Li Cu and Wu Xie go together. But how do they get to charge all the devices they have?

To be honest, I don’t have any good views on this drama. Visual effects and such have definitely been improved. There were not many to begin with, unlike the Mystic Nine where there were all kinds of bugs and creatures. There were some here too, but nothing ‘mysterious’ about them.

The plot is a hodge podge of 5 different things happening at the same time. I just can’t imagine how the author wrote the whole story. It follows Wu Xie from The Lost Tomb who is now somewhere in his late 30s early 40s? He has been chasing after a few people who claim to be the tenth clan. Not only the tenth clan has been creating feuds among the nine clans, they also have some beef with the Zhang clan of Mystic Nine.

Wu Xie recruits a high school student called Li Cu who is similar to younger him but otherwise, has nothing to do with the Mystic Nine or even their business. Why he was chosen, we have no idea. He sends Li Cu to the desert to uncover the secrets of an ancient city called GuTongJing.

Side by side, Li Cu’s friends back home keep getting weird ancient stuff from the caves and the delivery people claim it to be coming from Li Cu. His two best friends, Wang Hao and Su Wan also get embroiled into the whole thing.

The couple that never happened

On the other hand, we are introduced to still alive Zhang Rishan, Zhang Qishan’s (Fo Ye’s) lieutenant (played by Zhang Ming En in both Mystic Nine and this series) who is now heading the nine clans. He is helping Wu Xie take care of the tenth clan while trying to maintain order in the organization. But since he is not directly related to the Zhang clan, people don’t really like to listen to him. What’s more puzzling is that Zhang Rishan has developed some real good powers and he has got the Zhang clan’s tattoo too. Truly bewildering.

Now, to the already initiated, all this is still understandable. But, as usual, the plot is full of holes. Actually, I would go as far to say that the plot is a big hole in itself. After watching it, I’m just left with so many questions, I don’t think I am getting any sleep tonight. Also, the disconnect between The Lost Tomb and this series is so infuriating.

Their interactions are just such sugar moments

The only thing this series is good for is answering some questions left by the other two series and the movie. I don’t think I have reviewed the Lost Tomb movie yet. But anyway, this series brings them all together. Which is why, I say, you won’t be able to make any sense out of it unless you watch first two series and the movie too. There are enough references of past characters that you just can’t watch it as a stand alone series. And just for that, I thank the writers to take it up till the end.

What’s more annoying is that the series has majorly been shot in dark. Half the times, you don’t know what is happening. Half of the series is lost in translation because no one has officially taken it up for subbing as far as I know. The official channel had left it open for fans to translate and someone did try. I personally think they are more of a machine translation and it’s hard to be making any head or tail of it, especially on the YT channel. The place where I actually watched had decent subs in later episodes. I will post the official link in subsequent sections.

Okay, I am being really biased here with posting the pics of Zhang Ming En and Yang Rong lol

The best thing to happen in this series is Zhang Rishan getting a love interest. And it’s so similar to how forward Zanilia Zhao’s character was towards Fo Ye in Mystic Nine. OMG, I just love the couple. In the name of romance, it’s the only one there. And perhaps the only segment I really looked forward to.

In summary, the only pro to the series is getting to the bottom of unanswered questions from previous series. And of course, watching three cuties namely, Zhang Ming En, Li Cu and Yang Rong. And also, perhaps reliving the memories of Mystic Nine because I still find it the best among all four.

❤

Conclusion: The only reason I would recommend it to anyone is for the closure it finally provides to the fans of Daomu Biji. We, the people who cannot read Chinese, would never really know how true it is to the novels. But at least it’s something.

Final Feelings: ಠ╭╮ಠ

Watch here: Official YouTube Channel
You can also watch it at dramacool.movie (search in the search box).

Personal Section: It’s another year end time eh. I missed a few weeks again but I genuinely have been so busy with work, that I don’t even get enough rest these days unfortunately. Even on Thanksgiving, I did not really get to sleep. Finally took two days off to make an important trip but ended up sleeping the whole time and missing the trip lol.

Anyway, I feel a bit recharged finally but unfortunately I still can’t promise writing regularly. And, so, I won’t promote my ko-fi page because I am not producing any special content for people who are buying me coffees, not as of yet at least. But I will definitely update everything once the project the I work on weekends for ends and my routine returns to normal.

In other news, I finally got to taste the consulting overnight travel. Got to travel to upstate New York for a project. It was a great experience, a small quaint town, slow life and tons of snow. Been a while since I have loved snow so much. I will stop here and hopefully meet you guys next week.

Today’s song: I finally got to listen to Double Knot from SKZ and really liked it. Too bad, I had already posted it in one of the previous posts. Gotta find a new one then. Let’s see. I like this one, a bubbly cheerful song:

Webnovel Review: Demon Wang’s Favorite Fei (鬼王的金牌宠妃)

Webnovel Review: Demon Wang’s Favorite Fei (鬼王的金牌宠妃)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Bringing you another completed webnovel, here I am. I think it would be a good start to the whole review spree that I am beginning again. I should actually start reading some novels geared towards males. I have literally read so many so-called female webnovels, I should give the male ones a try.

Anyway, this is another novel from volarenovels and I am thankful to them for translating stuff which are not your typical stories. I mean, all the C-webnovels still have same tropes but when you want something different, however slight, just go to volare.

So, this novel is about a transmigrator called Murong Qi Qi, who, at the beginning of the novel has already been in this historical world for five years. Her background story is similar to all other transmigration stories; original owner is legitimate wife’s child but born with weak constitution, bullied by her own family member, ousted from her own home, dies and she, from the modern world takes over. In modern world as well, she was killed by either an organization or her lover or someone who was unusually obsessed about her.

While many novels rely on the growth of the female lead’s power since the time she migrates and as the plot goes on, what’s different here is that the our female lead is already an OP (overpowered) girl. She has been in this world for five years, plenty of time to develop her skills. She has acquired enough experience to be one of the best in martial arts as well as the art of poisons in this world. And then the story starts.

So, Murong Qi Qi goes back home on account of her pre-arranged marriage, takes revenge for the previous owner of the body and serves justice to each and every family member and other bullies. Another way this novel is vastly different from similar novels is that they lose their purpose once the revenge gets over. This novel trumps that and continues in the second half where she marries the “Demon Wang” Feng Cang, her male counterpart.

Now this Demon Prince has his own background story. He’s as powerful as Qi Qi, so he complements her very well. But he has a poison in his body since birth. And he is infamous for having his previous eight wives die on the first night of wedding. Murong Qi Qi is also wed to the guy as a sacrificial lamb for her country. But ultimately, she falls in love with him and helps him cure and solve the mystery of his poison.

What I really like about this novel is that it’s short (206 chapters and 2 extras) and there is tons of character development for not just the two lead characters but the people important in their lives, including their servants and family members. And it’s a happy ending for people who deserve it in the story.

Murong Qi Qi is a no non-sense eye for an eye girl who values her relationships with even her servants of many years. She would move mountains for people dear to her and I relate a lot with her in that sense. Feng Cang, on the other hand, is the usual, oh most handsome guy who dotes on his wife like anything. When it comes to power, he does complement Qi Qi but the major role in devising strategies is played by Qi Qi herself. All in all, he just supports her from behind or executes her ideas when required, but does not really interfere with/ take over what she is doing. I really like how they have actually given importance to the female lead here.

There are definitely some loopholes. There is absolutely no connection of how the Demon Wang came to love Qi Qi so much, why he was really doting on her from the get go. Like fine, he was attracted to her headstrong personality but he wasn’t aware of her martial arts or medical skills or even her beauty. Which reminds me, this is another one of those novels where female lead’s beauty can make nations fall. I don’t know why Chinese people are so obsessed with making the girls fairest and prettiest, like normal girls exist, okay?

The translation is very high quality except the translator has added the meanings of certain Chinese terms right after their use in the chapter, which sometimes is annoying. Rest is great in terms of grammar and choice of words.

Conclusion: It’s not the best out there but in terms of plot and tying lose ends, I would actually give it 7/10. OP female and male MCs are too cliche but I like the stories of side characters which has been given good amount of importance. The names are sometimes confusing for English audience but those are unimportant characters to begin with, so it should be not too bad. I do recommend it for one time read.

Final feelings: (⌒▽⌒)♡

Read here: Demon Wang’s Favorite Fei free on volare

Personal front: I finally started a ko-fi page for the starters. So, if you guys enjoy reading my posts and would like to buy me a coffee, this is where you go: http://ko-fi.com/eastasianlover. Thank you in advance!

I’m thinking of revamping this website and would need funds to have some custom domain may be and more features to explore. I’m still learning how this thing actually works but yeah.

Apart from that, I might have to start working on weekends starting next week, so I’ll start preparing a buffer for my posts so that the schedule remains and posts go out on time. I was looking for more webnovels and I might have another one finishing soon, so I will be able to review it.

Anyway, anyone following any anime this season? I have not looked at the fall anime list yet, nor read any synopsis. And there is no on-going drama or anime that I am watching right now, except Black Clover of course. Any recommendations?

It’s also starting to get colder here in northeast US. The temperatures early morning today dropped below 5 deg C. Sad that winters are coming. Now I have blabbered too much and it’s time for me to take my leave. See you guys around!

Today’s song: Been a while since I listened to any songs but I really like OSTs from Doctor John which I might review in the future. Here is one (the video will have some spoilers):

Webnovel Reco: Zi Xinyu’s Short Stories

Webnovel Reco: Zi Xinyu’s Short Stories

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello everyone,

I am suddenly running out of webnovels to review, because I haven’t finished many yet, lol. This week, I bring you some short stories I stumbled upon yesterday while traveling. This will again be a short post because I am out with the same friends again as last week.

So, these are 5 short stories from an author called Zi Xinyu and translated by timebun on volare novels. Three of them deal with life after death and reincarnation. All five of them are set in different time and background and they are disconnected from each other.

You also get to dive into Chinese folklore and beliefs a bit. Especially what happens once a human being dies. I wouldn’t delve into each one individually because they are just that, short stories. I will end up giving away the spoilers very easily.

But they’re so realistic, that you can totally relate to the characters. The stories are very well set, and you don’t feel lost while reading them. You don’t feel like you need to know any background about the characters to really understand the plots. I really want to appreciate the writing style of the author here. Simple and clear.

The best part however is, how touching the stories are. I really cannot describe the emotions but one or two of them made me cry, others made me ponder over life. It’s so intriguing how Zi Xinyu has weaved these plots on the simple aspects of life. Uhh… I think I am praising them too highly here but I think anyone can give them a try and see for yourself.

Conclusion: Just 5 chapters, 5 mins reading each. Perfect to read while traveling in a bus or maybe just wanting to take a break. Highly recommended. However, be warned that if you’re already down in life, you might not handle them well. They’re sad for sure.

Final feelings: (｡•́︿•̀｡)
These feelings reflect how I feel after reading the stories but not the stories themselves. I am quite glad I got to read them.

Read here: Read on Volare for free.

Personal front: I am back to NJ to my friends. One of my friends is getting married and since these are last bachelor days of his, I want to spend as much time as our own group as I can. Anyway, congratulations to my bro and sis-in-law. I hope I’ll be here when my sis-in-law arrives here in US.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed my two weekends with my friends. Sometimes I regret the missed love and friendship in these 24 years when I didn’t know them and the 1.5 years here during MS when I wasn’t as close to them as I am now. Regrets about that? Yes. Regrets about CMU or US or MS? No. I always say that only because of these relationships I have formed here.

Anyway, too much sentimental talks. I guess, I’ll take a break here. The stories above were already making me sad, now I am more sad. Congrats to my bro again.

Also, I am sorry about the short reviews recently. Have been busy and exhausted a bit. Will start right length as soon as I settle back down, which should be starting next week I guess.

Today’s song: Another Stray Kids song. This has been my life line for some time now. The only thing inspiring me these days. Plus that abs flashing, OMG (❤ω❤)

Disclaimer: The pics above belong to the author and volare novels. The song belongs to JYP Ent and Stray Kids.

Webnovel Reco: Rebirth of Malicious Empress of Military Lineage (重生之将门毒后)

Webnovel Reco: Rebirth of Malicious Empress of Military Lineage (重生之将门毒后)

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments
Rebirth of Malicious Empress
Picture Credits: Novel Updates

Ahhhh!!! I finally broke the streak, didn’t I? Unfortunately, I hadn’t even decided on what novel to review and hadn’t started writing the post in advance. Damn last week was busy. I don’t have another completed novel in my library of webnovels (actually I have one but I am really hesitant to review it for now). So, today I will write about a novel which is almost ending and will be done by the end of the year if the translation pace keeps up.

Since we’re nearing the end for this particular novel, and spoilers do predict a happy ending, I will go ahead and review “Rebirth of Malicious Empress of Military Lineage” being translated by zazajunnie from ChubbyCheeks Translations.

Written by Qian Shan Cha Ke the novel runs for 230 chapters and some short stories. Currently 221 chapters have been translated. I started following the novel when only 150 or so chapters had been released. Wow, it has been some time. But there was no looking back. It’s hands down one of the best reincarnation stories I have read till now.

The novel is the story of a girl called Shen Miao whose whole family has been serving their country as prominent military generals. Both her parents and her brother lead their own armies and have brought many wins to the country. Shen Miao, being foolishly in love with the youngest prince of the country, chases after him, marries him and becomes empress of the nation only to destroy her family by her own hands, including her own children, the crown prince and princess. She is disposed off by her husband, the emperor and his favorite concubine and Shen Miao reincarnates into the body of her own 14 year old self, with all her memories intact from the past life.

She vows to take revenge on everyone who led to the demise of her family in her past life. Along the way, she ends up helping people who suffered the same fate as her own family. Son of another general of same status as her family in the same kingdom, Xie Jing Xing, starts taking interest in her and becomes the male lead of the novel.

Pretty cliche, right? Not really. There is a reason why I call this novel fantastic read. One, it’s short. Less than 300 chapters and a captivating plot? Sign me up! Since there are such few number of chapters, the novel is devoid of any fillers. Each and every step Shen Miao takes, leads to her resolving something from her past.

Two, a strong female lead. It is not a story where the female lead is sitting around being helped by her male lead behind the scenes. She does get help from him, knowingly or unknowingly but she devises her own schemes and execute them by her aides most of the time.

Three, it’s a fast paced story. It is not like the story drags on and on. Well, I did say there are no fillers. But also, once there is an end to some character, they are uprooted with the family, not to be mentioned again in most of the cases, unless they’re important characters. So, you don’t have to keep revisiting characters from previous arcs again and again.

Fourth, the translations are consistent. Well, it’s less than 15 chapters left, so it might not matter some 15 weeks from now. But zaza is really consistent with her pace, Mon and Thu are the set days but if she crosses a particular amount of donation for the week, she releases additional chapters on Fri and Sat.

Fifth, the novel actually explains the mechanism of rebirth. It’s not just like before dying she made a vow and heavens granted her wish and reincarnated her and that’s it. The author spends full 3-4 chapters on how Shen Miao came back to her 14 year self, what changed and what remained the same, which I really liked. The rebirth novels that I have read till now are so focused on revenge that they don’t delve deeper into this stuff at all. Here you really get to look into what happened in Shen Miao’s original timeline after she died, which is pretty cool.

The only caveat I would add is the translation itself. The translation, is not bad in any sense, but it’s kind of hard at first. You might even think if it’s just machine translation. Trust me I have read machine translated raws for this novel and they don not make sense at all. So, I really appreciate zaza to translate it how she’s doing it. To be honest though, the translations might not be for beginners though. There is a lot of paraphrasing and grammar is all over the place. So, just give it a try and see if you can get accustomed to it. Once you are, you won’t be able to stop, trust me.

Another thing I can say I didn’t find much intriguing is the second part of the novel. I cannot write about this thing without giving huge spoilers, but I am finding Shen Miao’s life after revenge a bit boring. It is just last 30 chapters or so, and I do want a closure. But I am just not feeling it right now. I’ll stick to it anyway because it’s near the end. BUT, this can also be one of the positive points. Usually in rebirth stories, once the revenge is over, the authors rush through the ending and finish the story in one chapter saying male and female lead lived happily after. Not here!

Also, one caution. It’s a fan translation, so it might be that in the future, zaza would need to take down her translations should the author demand so or if it’s picked up by any official translation websites like Qidian. But for now, enjoy at the link below.

Favorite Quote:

“Good people always blame themselves and bad people always blame others. But it is the bad people that live better off than the good people. If one can let one be happier a little, then what is there to be sad about being resentful of others?”

Shen Miao

Conclusion: It is a meticulous story of revenge done right, one step at a time. And I highly recommend it.

Final feelings: ♡( ◡‿◡ )

Read here: Rebirth of Malicious Empress at ChubbyCheeks

Personal Front: I am so sorry for missing the Saturday posting day this week to my readers. It’s just that I have a new project at my work and I have to learn a lot of stuff which I already don’t know. That’s been taking up quite a bit of my time. Also, apartment hunting. I hope I can finally move out of my current apartment after 3 years of staying here.

Anyway, I have got something to advertise a bit. There is this company trying to put out an event where you predict the rankings of the current seasonal anime series and if you score top points, you win free prizes. I have won twice and am getting the stuff I won pretty soon (I hope at least). So, you guys can participate as well. I will do a separate post with pictures as and when I get the free merchandise. Here is the link if you want to participate: Crystal Ball from BlockPunk

This is the same company which I mentioned in my last post, stating that I got to talk to their founders and all. Try your luck out! Good luck!!

Today’s Song: Let’s go with ever popular BlackPink’s recent comeback

C-Drama Review: The Golden Eyes (黄金瞳)

C-Drama Review: The Golden Eyes (黄金瞳)

by eastasianlover ♥ 7 Comments

Edit: Updated the review to rant about it. The earlier review was till ep 12 and I really liked the concept till then, although there were flaws. 50 eps later, I am so disappointed that I can’t even bring myself to watch the finale. But I have read enough spoilers to know what happens and hence can complete this review. Also, note that I have changed it from reco to review unfortunately.

Updated Review

Okay people, results are in and the verdict is that this drama sucks. From plot being all over the place to less to no character development, I am just honestly so sad for this drama. It had great potential. At this point of time, I can’t even say if it had an excess of episodes and they stretched the story quite a bit or if there were too few episodes that they could’ve done better if they gave time to each character. I am just speechless at the bad quality of plot.

For plot, please read the original review below.

As I have said in some later post, I hate it when the scriptwriters think of the audience as fools. In this story, anything and everything happens. One moment the MC is acting so foolish that the truth is laying before him but he refuses to believe it, the other moment, he becomes so intelligent that most villainous person cannot escape his schemes.

The villains in this story are so torn between their feelings for MC (our typical kindest guy you’ll ever see) and their greed that they cannot really choose a side till the end. One can argue that it’s the actual human nature but in the end you have to choose a side. And till the end, you just cannot make out what’s gonna happen with whom.

My Google search terms tell me that there is a novel for this series and I would really like to read it to know if the drama did justice to the novel or not. If they did, then I am sorry to say, but please choose better plots to convert to drama.

Anyway, as I said, I am quite disappointed by the fact that Zhang Yixing would choose such a lacking script. If he did it just because the MC follows the same life philosophy as him, then I am sorry, gonna stay away from his other dramas from now. I personally think the producers of this drama were trying to ride the wave of popularity of media related to tomb raiding. And they probably succeeded because a lot of reviews I read on Viki really appreciate the drama.

Heck it doesn’t even look like tomb raiding because you cannot find a single cobweb in the tombs shown in this drama. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? Those tombs are supposed to be laying there for thousands of years. If you can show blood sucking creatures there, how come the paths to the tombs are without any spiders even? Common sense?

I really appreciate adaptations of Daomu Biji series (The Mystic Nine, The Lost Tomb and The Tomb at the Sea) for this. They at least took care of such details, even if their graphics were lacking. The Tomb at the Sea is doing great in that aspect as well. Although that is another series I need to rant about.

But seriously, my rating fell from 7/10 to -100/10. Please do not watch if you cannot bear plot holes. Oh wait, this plot in itself is a hole, a black hole of frustration.

Actually, you know what, the whole premise itself is something that I don’t understand. The rich heiress sent thieves in a pawnshop to steal a worthless piece of jade. This is the first episode. The jade breaks and injures our MC giving him the golden eyes. If the girl was so rich, she could’ve just bought it. Why send thieves. OMG, what a realization!!

So, in the end, only good thing about the series remains the identity of actual villain. You just won’t ever imagine that they were the people behind whole drama in MC’s life. Anyway, I’ll directly skip to last episode maybe and watch it at 4x speed just for myself, that I actually finished the series lol. Read for the plot and everything else below. I’ve edited my conclusion and final feelings section as well. And I would really like to apologize to people who read my earlier review and started the series already.

Original Review

I was trying to refrain from posting the review before the drama was fully released. B-but I just could not stop myself. As I said in my last post, my two tomb raiding posts are popular as ever. And I have been on lookout for similar kind of dramas and novels. And I am sure my readers are dying to find similar stuff as well.

Unfortunately, there is so much dearth of entertainment media like this. So, although this drama is still being subbed, putting my trust in Zhang Yixing’s fans, I decided to review this drama. Let’s begin.

I watched the trailer for the golden eyes in another C-drama I was watching last year. Well, it’s the combination of Zhang Yixing and oriental mystery, so why not.

Except that I completely forgot about it till now and stumbled across it again 4 days back. As expected, I finished 7 eps released in 2 days and have been following the releases since then. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed the marathon. However, the drama comes with its usual annoyances.

The drama follows Zhuang Rui (Zhang Yixing), a simple and naive worker at a pawnshop, who has a degree in history and archaeology from Peking University. One day, some people broke into his employer’s shop and tried to steal an antique piece in shape of the eye made out of jade stone. By accident, the piece shatters and injures Zhuang Rui’s eyes, only to gift him with the golden eyes, eyes that can see through everything.

He ends up using his newly found power to do antique and jade business, archaeologically exploring tombs and learning about stuff along the way and meeting all sorts of people; people, who seem friends but might not really be and vice versa as well.

Those pretty ❤

He also gets to know about his long lost family it seems. Apparently, there should exist a dragon clan where two people also possess the same pair of eyes, but they haven’t been introduced till 11th episode, so I cannot say. (Edit: no dragon clan till 50th episode, sorry.)

Now, the plus points. I really enjoy Zhang Yixing’s acting (not a new thing, I guess my readers must have become accustomed to it by now). The story has been okay so far, slow to develop but the mystery is still there and the characters are developing slowly but at a good pace.

Graphics have been great despite it being an iQiyi drama. And music is absolutely fantastic, background music goes so well with the situations and some of the trot songs used are such honey to the ears.

And I also like the subtle comedy the drama puts in between which doesn’t look too forced given how serious some situations can become when the main villain and the protagonist interact. Oh yeah, this drama also has a lot of face slapping. Since our Zhuang Rui sees it all, he doesn’t give any face to the cheaters in the business.

But, as I said, the drama is not devoid of its flaws as C-dramas usually all have. First is some of the poorly written characters, especially females. There is this policewoman who is always on Zhuang Rui’s case for some reason. I see this character becoming the main love interest of Zhuang Rui in future.

But for now, the character is absolutely trash. The lady, despite being a policewoman has absolutely no skills of a detective. It seems to be a character there just for the sake of it. I hope they give her some more substance otherwise she’ll just remain as an annoying b**** despite having such a great potential.

The other female character, Bing Bing, she’s supposed to be heir to some very rich person, but she doesn’t exude that charm or elegance of a rich heiress at all. All she does is give orders to this one underling and just overall, trying to avoid the villain guy who’s set to make her his girlfriend. Like please give her something else to do, eh?

Same with all the professor characters. They’re not annoying but might use some more development. Since I am writing the review based on 12 episodes out of 56, I do hope my wish comes true. And that they properly finish the story this time rather than hanging us audience with the hopes of a second season that would never happen. I will make sure to update this review once the drama finishes.

Conclusion: Changing from original highly recommended to don’t watch it for your sanity. It might satiate people still struggling with withdrawal symptoms from The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb (I do hope they sub the sequel in Lao Jiu Men series, The Tomb of The Sea soon). But this drama pales in comparison to other two (and I really did not like The Lost Tomb that much either, trust me).

You would only like it if you can ignore the plot and just wanna look at Zhang Yixing’s acting in the main role, supposedly action. I personally felt like it was a waste of time to invest myself in this drama. Do comment how you would rate it.

Final feelings: (◣_◢)

Watch here: The Golden Eyes on Viki

Personal Front: I am running late with the schedule again! Actually, I went for getting my driving learner’s permit today, and it being a weekend, there was just too much crowd at the center. And I didn’t even get it because I still don’t have my new authorization card. Ugh, life is tough in another country. And I really wanted my learner’s permit today so I could practice driving and get my license by the end of the month TT_TT

Anyway, since I and my friend went too early in the morning, I came back and slept for like 4 hours. I could have prepared my post in advance, but last few days have been really hectic somehow. It’s the tax season in US and so it’s been more busy. Gathering all the documents, ensuring everything is in correct order and then sending them away is not easy after all. I hope all my US readers get huge tax refunds.

I don’t think I have anything really exciting to tell other than I almost got my learner’s driving license but just at the last stage, I could not. See you guys next week then!

Today’s song: I got one from the drama and really really love it:

Webnovel Review: Lost Treasure (失落的宝藏)

Webnovel Review: Lost Treasure (失落的宝藏)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment
Lost Treasure Cover

Sorry for the delay readers! I have been sick since Monday and working is really hard right now. More on it in the personal section later. Wait, did you think I finally missed on writing this week? Damn, I believed so too but ended up finishing the post yay!

Also, happy March everyone! A new month and a new cycle starts here for reviews (I have kept it up for four weeks! Phew!! It’s a record for me!!!)

Anyway, given the huge popularity of tomb raiding reviews I have done previously on my blog (The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb), I decided to review this novel which I started reading to satiate my thirst for thriller mysteries in C-novels. Gotta share good stuff with the readers no?

If you guys still haven’t discovered this, half of my blog posts are reviews and half are recommendations. The difference is, I recommend something when I am absolutely sure of it and am totally in love with it, enough to overlook all its flaws.

Although I take name of both tomb raiding dramas in this post, this novel has less to do with tomb raiding and more with just the general mystery and the desert and the *foreigners did some experiments and tried to take our treasures long long time ago but we gotta find it now because it is still a national treasure* kind of theme. If it is still keeping your interest, read on!

The novel is a short 58 chapters novel, written by author Shen Taiya. It follows an earnest small time reporter called Shen Yu who, unknowingly gets entangled with an army officer called Tang Can. Tang Can and his team have been working to find a special kind of gold which is said to come from space and is superior in quality but very fragile. As usual, it is also being coveted by greedy villagers and then there is mystery of Shen Yu’s and Tang Can’s past and other shady villagers involved.

Shen Yu is the protagonist here. She has parents who don’t seem to be all that normal. They have their own pasts and involvement with the gold matter. Not to mention, all the comrades of Tang Can involved in the major expedition in the novel have their fates connected with each other.

Plotwise, I think, the author has tried to include too much in too short a novel. This is the first and probably the last time you’ll hear me say this but the novel could have really really benefited from having more chapters. The mystery was great, if only the author had fleshed out a bit more details and not ended it in a rush.

And why would you rush on a novel with such a great potential anyway? Like, initially the story is too slow. Shen Yu’s mood swings are too much. Some of the more *this guy is my childhood sweetheart and only I have the right on his heart, how dare you even look at him* females are too annoying. In that way, it’s good that the drama has been kept short. But what started as very intriguing story went downhill really fast.

Till like 55th chapter, I was wondering how the author’s gonna tie everything and give it a good ending. They didn’t actually. The last reveal was ultimate though. Just that this. novel. needs. more. chapters.

As I said, there was real potential here when it comes to character development as well. Romance is a bit bland too. You would keep scratching your heads as to when Tang Can actually fell for Shen Yu. And whenever there is any scope of them being alone, something or other happens. I guess it was just there for the sake of it or that the author is not very experienced with romance.

The translation for the novel is impeccable. Sanguine from volare novels has done a great job with the terms and everything. Grammar is good and as usual, in the latter half of the novel, I was basically following it daily as the chapters came out.

Conclusion: As I said, I started reading the novel because I was looking for something related to tomb raiding. I ended up reading this because it mentioned all the mystery keywords found in a typical tomb raiding mystery webnovel like army, desert, mystery, gold etc. Ultimately, I was disappointed. But I still won’t dismiss it as such and since it is very short, I would recommend it to the desperate souls out there, just like me. Finally, I would give it 4.5/10.

Final feelings: (눈_눈)

Read here: Lost Treasure on Volare Novels

Personal Front: I woke up on Monday with a high fever, without any reason. I would have understood if I had gone outside any of the previous days, but I was home on Saturday and Sunday. I just couldn’t understand the reason for me suddenly developing a fever. And the whole week is blurry in my mind because all I was doing was sleeping. Work from home policy is just too good for any office. I also feel guilty but I wouldn’t have accomplished anything in the office anyway.

Even after 1 week of meds and sleeping, I am not exactly okay but getting better I guess. My voice is literally gone though. Anyway, during this time, I finished so many cliche rom com dramas (I even finished a J-drama which I seldom watch because of their exaggerated acting). And then I stumbled upon this drama called the Golden Eyes starring my fav Zhang Yixing. I had watched its trailer once but I completely forgot about it till now. It has all the elements of being a famous mystery, so I hope it doesn’t end up being like the previous two dramas I have reviewed.

Anyway, since I successfully finished the post, I will go sleep again. Happy reading everyone.

Today’s song: I ran out of songs to post. Let’s see. I don’t think I have posted any IU song yet. Last year she released one and became my favorite really fast. The lyrics are witty and give you such confidence in life:

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

C-Variety Reco: Idol Producer (偶像练习生)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Idol Producer S1
Season 1 Trainers

To the uninitiated, as the name suggests, it is a show where 101 trainees from different idol companies in China compete to grab a spot in a 9 members group. They get training from the trainers of the show and through weekly missions, they show their talents to the viewers. And the viewers then vote for their favorite trainees.

Now that we have got that out of way, I am pretty sure fans of Korean Produce 101 series would bash me for recommending a blatant copy of the concept, but hear me out. There are two types of copies according to yours truly, one which fails to even be at par with the original and another that surpasses the original.

I claim that Idol producer belongs to the latter category. There are tons of idol/ singer/ rapper producing shows in the world, why this one you ask? First, as you guys might already know that I am a big fan of Zhang Yixing’s philosophy and attitude towards life, which is also portrayed in his book Standing Firm at 24.

This show draws on that philosophy and starts with very inspiring quotes and flashbacks on idol lives. I would rather say it’s replete with those kind of moments, where you just cannot help but be so encouraged that you wanna start working hard right at that moment. If you’re looking for some inspiration, please do watch it.

Second, the editing. Mnet of South Korea has been criticized heavily for their evil editing, where they portray a few trainees as a character who either are unhelpful or rude or something. Then those trainees get bashed a lot for no reason and then either they’re eliminated or rank very low even with great talents (Yoo Yeon Jung from I.O.I. anyone?)

The editing here is funny. Like I am laughing just thinking about the show lol. It’s full of comedy. I haven’t seen any trainee in bad light, even once. Plus their background music and the funny subtitles add icing on the cake. All these elements come together to become such a comic spectacular (Did I praise it too much?)

Sure, producers and directors are biased towards some popular trainees and they get even more screen time, but where does that not happen? I even suspect that they already have some people in their minds to debut and hence show them more on purpose.

Season 2 Trainers. Jolin Tsai ❤

Anyway, third is handsome bois *drools*. I am sorry, but apart from the 101 trainees in the show, the mentor themselves are so handsome and so….. handsome (Li Ronghao (❤ω❤) ). Not to forget Zhang Yixing. First season features Got7’s Jackson and pretty Kyulkyung and Cheng Xiao as mentors. Second season has got Xu Minghao from Seventeen and prettiest ever Jolin Tsai. Anyway, let’s not get into personal reasons here, shall we? ヽ(￣～￣　)ノ

I definitely dig the combo of inspiring and comedy when it comes to variety shows, or any other drama for that matter. It has helped me go through some of the toughest times in my life. And I would gladly come back to this particular show if, God forbids, I go through such times again.

Conclusion: So, my dear readers, if you’re lacking some encouragement in your life or are depressed about small stuff, do give this show a try. I guarantee that by the end of the show, something inside you would have changed. The best part is that it is entirely available on YouTube.

Final feelings about the show: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

More info: This show has a second season going on right now called Youth Has You(?) ( 青春有你). Three episodes out currently, it is as good as season 1.

Watch here: They had the whole thing english subbed on youtube and I cannot find it. But the same people have those uploaded onto FB. Here: Watch Idol Producer Season 1.
On their Youtube channel, there is a lot of content, so I am linking it here as well, just in case anyone is interested: Idol Producer Subs Channel on YouTube.
And here is season 2: Qing Chun You Ni Subs 2.

Personal Talk: Did you guys notice the change in the format of my posts? There aren’t enough yet to notice any pattern or anything but I am hoping to set a schedule, so that people who are not interested in one particular type can easily enjoy others, albeit it will work on the condition that I write regularly. I am hoping to keep the schedule as follows:
Saturday 1: Webnovels
Saturday 2: Dramas
Saturday 3: Webtoons/ Manga
Saturday 4: Anime
Saturday 5 (If any): Personal update/ Travel posts/ QnA if I receive any (If you guys have any questions to ask me, please do comment or send me at eastasianlover@gmail.com).

Today’s song: It’s hard to be searching for a song when I am not listening to any right now! Since we’re talking about idol producer, let’s go with a song I liked from here (It is actually Jolin Tsai’s classic and I love the original better. Original after this rendition):

Webnovel Review: Bringing the Nation’s Husband Home (国民老公带回家)

Webnovel Review: Bringing the Nation’s Husband Home (国民老公带回家)

by eastasianlover ♥ 5 Comments

I know, weird choice for starting webnovel reviews. But it’s the only Chinese webnovel that I have ever finished. So, I thought let’s begin with this. Please note, it’s a review and not a recommendation. I personally wouldn’t read any novels from the author of this particular novel including this one. But well, there are a lot of people who really like this kind of stuff.

Anyway. Written by Ye Fei Ye and serialized and translated by webnovel.com (Qidian), this romance fiction contains 973 chapters in total.

It’s the story about two people, very pretty Qiao Anhao and the most handsome guy of the nation, Lu Jinnian, who fell in love with each other on a rainy afternoon in their school days. However, they never got to confess about their feelings to each other. They chase each other in school and in professional world (both are in entertainment industry), never letting their true feelings out.

Through a series of misunderstandings and circumstances, Qiao Anhao gets married to Lu Jinnian but they keep thinking that the other person has a third party in their hearts. The story follows both of them, their families and friends and how finally, they get to realize that they are made for each other.

Now, it is fine till here. But any person with a brain would question how it can take 900+ chapters for two people, who by the way, are married to each other since the beginning of the novel, to understand that they actually like each other? Like, I really applaud this author to stretch the story so much just based on a simple misunderstanding.

The characters say one thing and hold back the important stuff, thinking it internally. What’s the use? A novel that could have been a great story and could have finished in like 100 chapters became an almost 1000 chapter novel. Indians will sympathize, but it beats Ekta Kapoor’s dramas.

Apparently, most of the novels from this particular author are like this. Not to mention the angst and rapey vibes of all novels (I personally haven’t read those but the synopsis of all of them screams the same thing) . Like the guy cannot talk about his real feelings yet he takes out his frustration of the girl not liking him back (do remember that it is all in his mind) through raping her time and again.

And the girl? Of course she doesn’t voice her opinion because she is content with the fact that she has the guy’s body at least, if not heart (again, it’s all in her mind). More than anything, you as a reader feel so frustrated that you just want to hold their heads and let them talk.

*Kiss Talk* This is how, you, as a reader, are going to feel at every point in the novel. Trust me!

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not really hating on the novel or the author (actually I am). I have immense respect for her. She fleshes out back stories of each and every character really neatly. Some cliches are unavoidable, like evil mother/ mother-in-law, clingy people who have main characters as their love interest and stuff.

But puh-lease. You both characters belong to rich background, just use your resources and for God’s sake, no for readers’ sake, just talk OMG!!! And please be done away with the guy forcing himself on the girl. It doesn’t even qualify for a smut, nor does it for what the fans of webnovels like to call it, snu-snu. *Alright rant over*

As is usual for a romance webnovel like this, there are a lot of faceslaps as well, satisfying ones at that. But they are not really able to climb over the high wall called frustration that one as a reader faces. Plus, all the characters barring Lu Jinnian’s step brother are really after tearing the couple apart. Like I don’t really know what’s going on in their mind. If you understand that two people are in love, why not just leave them alone.

I agree with some of the comments on NovelUpdates that state that the female lead is such a hollow character. Yeah, if you’re reading this review and you’ve reached here, you would say why did I even write this review. No, it was by no means to rant my feelings out. I read this novel like almost a year back. I just need to tell people that despite its popularity on Qidian, it’s not what you would want to start.

Conclusion: I would rate this novel as 1/5, just for the detailed writing and giving justice to most of the characters without a lot of loose ends. I would highly recommend people to stay away from it. It has no relation with reality at all and I personally think this might be the only love story (I don’t know about others by Ye Fei Ye) worse than Twilight.

Final feelings about the novel: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

More Info: This novel also has an ongoing webcomic on Qidian itself and a Chinese drama called Pretty Man (I started it only to drop it at 2nd episode I think although it starred one of my favorite actors Dylan Xiong).

Read here: Bringing The Nation’s Husband Home on webnovel.com (Readers discretion is advised).

Personal Front: I celebrated my New Years at home which I visited after 1.5 years. It was a good vacation and I have been recharged. As I said in my last post, I have been focusing on myself and my learning lately and I feel much more positive than before. I guess meditating works after all. Once again, shout out to my friend who told me about a particular app for meditation

Anyway, nothing else has been happening and life is still going on and time is still flying by. Which reminds me, why is everyone on internet saying that January passed by very slow and it felt like years? Like people, 2019 started just yesterday and one whole month has gone by in a blink of an eye. Is it just me?

Today’s Song: I am back to podcast game and not really listening to songs these days but this particular one has stuck with me since I am following this anime this season:

New Fever: Chinese Webnovels

New Fever: Chinese Webnovels

by eastasianlover ♥ 4 Comments

Well, it was webtoons two years back, and it’s Chinese webnovels now. I wish Japanese and Korean webnovels got as much attention as Chinese webnovels (in free translation sphere that is), but let’s just be happy with what we have.

So, today I thought that since I have been lamenting about how I have got addicted to Chinese webnovels since last year, I could make an introductory post for these after all.

If you have been reading my posts, last year I said that my fascination with the webnovels started after I fell in love with all those tomb raiding dramas I was watching: the lost tomb, mystic nine, etc. While these introduced me to some amazing actors and actresses, they also made me frantically search for webnovels they were based on, since this is C-dramas we are talking about: abrupt endings and no news of new seasons. To my dismay, I couldn’t find the tomb raiding novels, but I did find novels in other genres.

One of the first I read was when a snail falls in love. It’s a detective story and I do have a review prepared for it, I hope I’ll be able to clean it up soon. Anyway, that’s how I got hooked. Waiting for translations of each chapter is similar to waiting for webtoon/ scanlations chapters each week. That’s just talking about websites that are able to release less chapters per week. Websites like Qidian release somewhere between 1-3 chapters per day for almost all novels.

Coming to sources, where you can read those, one of my go to places is webnovel.com (Qidian). You would need to sign up to read the stories and there is a payment system, which, if utilized properly, doesn’t require any form of money out of your pocket.

Qidian
My library at Qidian. I don’t even know why I read what I read, anymore

So basically, to unlock the chapters of some premium novels (read: all popular novels) you need something called spirit stones (SS). You get some as a welcome gift, you can earn some by daily check-ins, watching an ad, voting for the novels etc. With everything, you manage to earn anywhere from 25 to 40 SS per day. If you are not reading that many premium novels, you spend about 3-20 SS per chapter. If you’re still falling behind, you can always invite yourself and make another account. Double the SS, double the fun. Here is my referral just btw: http://wbnv.in/k9FzVG

The problem with Qidian is the sheer amount of similar novels. There are two types there, one is romance novels with super high EQ/ super awesome abilities male-female pair out of which one has to be super rich, even on positions of CEO (if set in modern era) or God/ Emporer (if set in some fantasy would). Other type is fantasy martial arts/ cultivation stuff. A lot of them also involve transmigration of the lead to some other world. One gets really bored after sometime tbh.

Other favorite source of mine is novelupdates.com. This website curates all the translations at one place. It directs you to the respective website, of course, but you are able to keep a track at least. They also have a collection of Japanese fan-translated novels. Which makes it much more awesome for you can find different genres.

The only actual fan-translation group I follow is Meraki translations. They put so much love in their posts and provide really high quality in translation as well as novels themselves. They were the one who actually got me really into all this Chinese webnovel scene.

Meraki
Meraki, in general, is louu. Can you resist that cute mascot?

Any recommendations for first time readers, you ask? Well, I would probably go with “When a Snail Falls in Love” for now, since I haven’t really read that many. Another one that I have finished recently is “Bringing Nation’s Husband Home”. It’s a love story, very frustrating at that, so I wouldn’t really recommend it per se. Honestly, there are so many novels that I feel so frustrated reading but they are insanely popular.

Anyway, they are good for time pass, and you might be able to find real gems. I don’t know how they are written in Chinese, languagewise, but in English translations, the language is rather simple. Anyone with basic English skills can read them easily. Why don’t you guys give them a try and let me know how you found them?

Today’s song: I have gone into song rut and don’t have any new songs after Amber’s playlist. I went into podcast mode and don’t listen to songs at all these days. But I can always go to my previous playlists and so, I’ll post one from this amazing pop-star Jolin Tsai. I love her songs, bold lyrics and bolder MVs. She was on my playlist for 2 months before Amber’s mixtape release.

C-Drama review: The Lost Tomb (盗墓笔记)

C-Drama review: The Lost Tomb (盗墓笔记)

by eastasianlover ♥ 9 Comments

I am finally back to write about the sequel of the drama I wrote about few days ago (I was supposed to publish that two weeks back but my trip back to home took up all my time. More about that later). Also, I did ask my Chinese friend and there are novels for both The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb. Called as Dàomù Bǐjì in Pinyin, this series is about the journey of a guy who comes from the family of tomb raiders (basically part of mystic nine, though he doesn’t know this in the beginning) called Wu Xie. In the novels, he is an antique shop owner, in the series he is an international student who has just returned to China to hand over an antique from Germany to his country. He feels strongly about foreign countries possessing Chinese artifacts.

The Lost Tomb Li Yifeng OMG
Li Yifeng as Wu Xie (so handsome *drools*)

Plot: So, in the drama, Wu Xie (played by Li Yi Feng) comes back from Germany and encounters some bad guys who are after this relic. It turns out that this relic has a part of a map to some tombs which might contain huge treasures. He is helped out by a fat guy in shaking the enemy off initially. He later finds out the other half of map from a girl who claims to be one of the mystic nine families and it turns out to be a location of a famous tomb.

Wu Xie’s uncle gathers some men and they all set off to find treasures in the tomb. The men include a mysterious person called Zhang Qi Lin (played by Yang Yang) who doesn’t speak much and has some incredulous techniques with him. He always comes to the rescue of Wu Xie later when the adventure actually starts. He is successor of Zhang Qi Shan in the mystic nine.

The Lost Tomb Yang Yang OMG
Yang Yang as Zhang Qilin (more handsome *double drools*)

Anyway, they go into the tomb, only to face countless questions and weird enemies including man eating bugs and zombies and of course, the previous group, led by a foreigner as usual. They lose some people, get to know more about the mystic nine and of course…….. no spoilers 😐

Second part of the plot deals with Wu Xie discovering the real identity of the girl who gave him the other half of the map. He also gets a typical turtle from the tomb about which he wants to find out the truth. He has to get in touch with Huo grandma who is the only one from her generation remaining from the old mystic nine. She is a wicked lady who still exerts power in the antiques and tomb raiding area and refuses to entertain his party. Wu Xie finds himself in the clenches of his foreign enemy again and the end. THE END!!

That….. tha…..AAAAAAAAAAAA

Characters: Not much here. We get to know about Wu Xie a lot. He’s the main character after all. There is no other development at all. Last part of the plot ends so abruptly that I still cannot process what happened. Li Yifeng has portrayed  a naive, kind character very well but I am not sure about diversity in the roles he takes. The other drama I watched, The legend of Chusen Season 1 also has a similar character portrayed by him.

The Lost Tomb The Annoying girl
Li Yifeng, some teammates and the annoying betrayer

The best acting though is by Yang Yang. That mysterious character of Zhang Qilin he portrays, draws you so much that my most of the frustration as a viewer is that I really wanted to know his background. Although, after watching Mystic Nine, one does come to know who he might be, but I still want to know. There is this chemistry between Li Yifeng and Yang Yang. People have speculated that there is definitely something between them and some people claim that there are author’s notes in the novels which do confirm this. However, bromance or not, their chemistry is amazing. I am no fujoshi but the subtle hints in the drama, I somehow like those.

The Lost Tomb Bromance
THE BROMANCE!!!!!!!!!!

Other actors are veteran, their portrayal of characters is as usual. However, there is not much in the background of those people. 12 episodes are not enough. There is as usual that annoying fatty uncle (that’s how he’s called in the series) who is greedy for the treasures and ends up creating trouble for everyone. Then, I am not sure if this foreigner villain is descendant of the one in mystic nine but the villain in the movie of this series which I’ll review sometime later has same surname as the one in the latter series.

The Lost Tomb Third Uncle
The Resourceful Third Uncle

Wu Xie’s uncle’s character seem so very pitiful. He wants to take out the treasures and help Wu Xie at the same time but he is unable to do both to the full extent. I still won’t comment about the Huo family as the next season should be the one to reveal their secrets. I am looking forward to next season though they are not going to cast Yang Yang as Qilin (*cries in a corner*).

The Lost Tomb The Wicked Huo Family
The Wicked Huo Family and Fatty

Good stuff: Only Yang Yang and Li Yifeng

Bad Stuff: I have too much to complain about in this series. Their music is not good, especially the bg. They build up so much tension with bg music that the viewer is compelled to think that an important moment, a discovery, a monster, something is gonna happen only to find it a normal moment in the drama. I don’t remember the openings and endings at all as opposed to the mystic nine whose OSTs I still listen to, even after a month.

Then their graphics are not upto par at all. It’s like they hired all the newbies to do post production editing. The graphics seem like those in 2000s, probably 2000s had better graphics in their dramas which confuses me a lot. They do a better job for a variety show like Happy Camp, how could they do this to a large scale drama production like this.

Plot of course. Who would like that abrupt ending, there is no talks of season 2 although the producers have said that they would adapt 8 novels in 8 seasons. Plot wise, I am not even sure if I should criticize the drama or wait for next season as I am waiting for many other. What is wrong with Chinese Drama producers??? Ugh

And there are confusing movies which adapt the arcs but change the actors, and it’s so hard to let go the first set of actors to appreciate the second set in movies. I would rather go for animations than live actions, just because of this reason.

The Lost Tomb Start of adventure
This was the start of their adventure

Then there is no clear female protagonist as of now. There are two potential people who come into mind. One is the girl Ah Ning who is the villain in this season but gets softer towards Wu Xie because he saves her life. Second is the Huo’s granddaughter. The intentions of both of these girls are unknown (AND I AM STILL WAITING FOR NEXT SEASON, DAMN IT!!). But then why can’t a female person go into tombs to search for the treasures? Same was in the Mystic Nine. (However that changed in the Candle in the Tomb).

Other things: All in all, I would rate this drama as 4/10. It has great potential if only they tie the loose ends, make subsequent seasons and hopefully cast the same people. Otherwise, it remains a mystery to everyone. I WANNA LEARN MANDARIN JUST TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE NOVELS!!

I will not recommend this drama until and unless:

  1. You are going through withdrawal symptoms of Mystic Nine and want to see more tomb raiding.
  2. There is some news about the second season of The Lost Tomb.
  3. You have already read the novels and want to compare them with the drama just for your satisfaction sake.
  4. You want to see Yang Yang’s and Li Yifeng’s chemistry (which happens in first part of the drama only coz Qilin disappears after their quest in the tomb).

You have been warned. But if you still want, you can watch the drama here: The Lost Tomb

Just for the sake, here is a trailer:

Today’s Song: The usual

Side Story: I wanted to do so much after coming back but I am still trapped into the cycle of long hospital visits and the medications. I don’t feel like doing anything anymore ;-;

And as I said before, I am hooked to the tomb raiding series and I finished another drama called Candle in the Tomb. I have all the praises for this one. And then I started another drama called My Mr. Mermaid while in between I finished 2-3 more dramas like When a Snail Falls in Love, Secret Forest etc. etc. I hope I’ll get to review all of these soon. Let me know if you guys want any one of those done first.