Media Round Up: Mostly False Starts
Feb. 23rd, 2025 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryI was lucky that I watched several drama I liked and could finish recently but now I'm having trouble settling on something to watch. I did finish a book though!
Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table by Xiaofei Tian —I enjoyed this book about how variant version of Tao Yuanming’s poems might change how we view the poet. The first chapter which focused on how these variants were seen historically was especially good and the rest of the book didn't quite live up to it. I still liked how it added a lot of context that's helpful for understanding the poems. I didn't like some of the arguments about what the poet felt, which just seems overly strong for the evidence. Overall worth reading.
Other than that I have watched and given up after a few episodes several things
Always My General ep 1-11—Not sure if this counts as mini drama the episodes are 15-20 min long which feels too long for a mini drama but still very short. It’s about women general who has lived as a man, but after her soldiers are slaughtered for political reasons decided to present as female as part of a revenge scheme. There’s more gender stuff in this than in other dramas of this type that I’ve seen – still not very much, but a couple of scenes of the FL learning how to walk and talk in a more fem way. This was fun for a bit but it was getting a bit grim and I wasn’t enjoying the dark color palette either so I stopped watching halfway through
Content notes: torture(of main character), guns, fake rape – the FL gets someone to dress up as one of her enemies and stage a rape scene
Wulin Heroes ep1-3—I wasn’t sure what to watch next so I decided to just go through and watch a few episodes of all the things with 30 or less episodes on my “plan to watch” list on My Drama List until one of them stuck. This one did not stick. I did not enjoy how the ML was constantly being a jerk to the FL
The Chang'an Youth ep 1-2—Another short drama that didn’t stick. This one even has a young woman in disguise as man so she can study at an all male school. I like that kind of thing. It’s very obviously inspired by Sungkyunkwan Scandal with some very similar scenes. But the premise involves the FL lying to her dead best friend’s fiance and pretending to be said best friend, and I really dislike it! (fiance is a decent person and he really loved the best friend – just hadn’t seen her in person for a long time)
Pretty Boy ep 1-5—This drama about a young man dressing as a woman to sneak into an all women’s martial arts sect is cute and charming! I thought this one might stick but after five episodes not much has happened and I’m bored
Content note: Animal death (hunting), fat character who is a fatphobic stereotype
Celestial Authority Academy ep 1-2—Another young woman in disguise as a man so she can study at an all male school cdrama. Too much school bullying in this one for me! I also didn't like that we were supposed to sympathize with some of the bullies.
Keep Running Season 3 , ep 1—This was the earliest season of this show that I could find with English subtitles. I think if I watch more Keep Running I'll skip ahead to a more recent season with more people I recognize.
Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table by Xiaofei Tian —I enjoyed this book about how variant version of Tao Yuanming’s poems might change how we view the poet. The first chapter which focused on how these variants were seen historically was especially good and the rest of the book didn't quite live up to it. I still liked how it added a lot of context that's helpful for understanding the poems. I didn't like some of the arguments about what the poet felt, which just seems overly strong for the evidence. Overall worth reading.
Other than that I have watched and given up after a few episodes several things
Always My General ep 1-11—Not sure if this counts as mini drama the episodes are 15-20 min long which feels too long for a mini drama but still very short. It’s about women general who has lived as a man, but after her soldiers are slaughtered for political reasons decided to present as female as part of a revenge scheme. There’s more gender stuff in this than in other dramas of this type that I’ve seen – still not very much, but a couple of scenes of the FL learning how to walk and talk in a more fem way. This was fun for a bit but it was getting a bit grim and I wasn’t enjoying the dark color palette either so I stopped watching halfway through
Content notes: torture(of main character), guns, fake rape – the FL gets someone to dress up as one of her enemies and stage a rape scene
Wulin Heroes ep1-3—I wasn’t sure what to watch next so I decided to just go through and watch a few episodes of all the things with 30 or less episodes on my “plan to watch” list on My Drama List until one of them stuck. This one did not stick. I did not enjoy how the ML was constantly being a jerk to the FL
The Chang'an Youth ep 1-2—Another short drama that didn’t stick. This one even has a young woman in disguise as man so she can study at an all male school. I like that kind of thing. It’s very obviously inspired by Sungkyunkwan Scandal with some very similar scenes. But the premise involves the FL lying to her dead best friend’s fiance and pretending to be said best friend, and I really dislike it! (fiance is a decent person and he really loved the best friend – just hadn’t seen her in person for a long time)
Pretty Boy ep 1-5—This drama about a young man dressing as a woman to sneak into an all women’s martial arts sect is cute and charming! I thought this one might stick but after five episodes not much has happened and I’m bored
Content note: Animal death (hunting), fat character who is a fatphobic stereotype
Celestial Authority Academy ep 1-2—Another young woman in disguise as a man so she can study at an all male school cdrama. Too much school bullying in this one for me! I also didn't like that we were supposed to sympathize with some of the bullies.
Keep Running Season 3 , ep 1—This was the earliest season of this show that I could find with English subtitles. I think if I watch more Keep Running I'll skip ahead to a more recent season with more people I recognize.
